(Adds Deripaska comment, background)
By Sam Tobin
LONDON, April 5 (Reuters) - Russian aluminium tycoon
Oleg Deripaska was cleared of contempt of court by London’s High
Court on Wednesday in a long-running legal battle with his
former business partner.
The founder of aluminium giant Rusal was alleged
to have breached an undertaking to the court in a lawsuit
brought by former Russian finance minister Vladimir Chernukhin
over a joint venture to develop real estate in Moscow.
But Judge Mark Pelling ruled on Wednesday that Chernukhin
had not proved his case against Deripaska – who is subject to
Western sanctions imposed due to his perceived links to the
Kremlin.
A spokesperson for Deripaska said in a statement: “Mr
Chernukhin’s case collapsed like a house of cards under the
scrutiny of the trial.
“The ridiculous accusations raised by Mr Chernukhin were
nothing but shameless lies driven by animosity, gall, and petty
grudges. Mr Deripaska is glad to see that this time, despite the
ongoing frenzy, the UK courts demonstrate independence and
choose to rule cases on their merits.”
Lawyers representing Chernukhin did not immediately reply to
a request for comment.
Chernukhin had said Deripaska was in contempt by allowing
EN+ Group, which owns a 57% stake in Rusal, to relocate from
Jersey to Russia.
Contempt of court can be punished by up to two years in
prison and an unlimited fine.
Chernukhin – whose wife Lubov Chernukhin has given more than
2 million pounds ($2.5 million) to Britain's ruling Conservative
party and its lawmakers since 2012 – alleged Deripaska breached
an undertaking to preserve 45.5 million EN+ shares in Jersey to
meet a $95 million debt, which has since been paid in full.
His lawyer Jonathan Crow argued at a hearing last month that
the shares were rendered "worthless" because of the difficulty
in enforcing debts against Deripaska in Russia.
Deripaska gave evidence by videolink from Moscow, which his
lawyer said was in part because of concerns that U.S. charges
for allegedly violating sanctions could have prompted U.S.
authorities to seek Deripaska's extradition from London.
He told the court the shares would have been worthless if
EN+ was not redomiciled, as the company would have been
bankrupted due to U.S. sanctions imposed on EN+ because of his
control.
Pelling said in his written ruling that the "central
premise" of Chernukhin's case was that the EN+ shares were
effectively cancelled when the company was relocated to Russia,
which was "simply wrong".
Chernukhin sought permission to appeal against Pelling's
ruling on Wednesday, which was refused.
Deripaska and Chernukhin have been engaged in a bitter
dispute since 2010, which saw Deripaska bring a private criminal
prosecution against Chernukhin in 2019. The case was taken over
by British prosecutors and dropped the following year.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin, editing by Sarah Young and Christina
Fincher)
Messaging: sarah.young.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))
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